How to paint Imperial Fists Armour – Tutorial

Intro to Glazing

Before jumping into how I painted the Imperial Fists armour, I think it is important to explain how the paint should be applied. When painting yellow, one of the biggest struggles is to achieve a clean, smooth finish.

The best way I’ve found is to layer the paint on as a series of glazes rather than standard paint. All this means really, is thinning the colours right down, until they have the consistency of milk.

When you paint them onto the model you are just looking to wet the surface with them, effectively tinting it. Over repeated applications of the glaze, you build up the colour you want. Unlike washes, where you want them to flow into all the creases and recesses, with glazes you need to be more controlled and not let the paint run.

Step 1 – Apply Primer

As the paints being used are very thinned down it makes them transparent. Because of this, it makes the choice of primer colour very important, as it can actually be used to our advantage and save a lot of the work for us.

So, in this case, prime the mini white. This will enable a bright finish from fewer layers.

Do take your time when priming to get a smooth finish, as it makes all the difference to the end result.

Step 2 – Paint Base Colours

Paint the complete mini in Ushabti Bone. Remember to apply as a glaze, in very thin layers. Because you primed the mini white it should be simple to get solid coverage in just a couple of coats. It is very important to keep this stage as smooth and clean as possible. So, take your time.

Shade all the silver joint areas of the armour with NuIn Oil. Take care to keep it off the Ushabti Bone coloured armour. Again, if you make a mistake, just let it dry fully and tidy up with some Ushabti Bone.

Step 7 – Base & Weathering

WEATHERING

At this point, the marine is finished and you can base it however you like.

You can, however, decide to go on and add some battle damage to your mini by following these steps:

Using a small piece of sponge dab on Rhinox Hide to form a pattern of random dots over the armour panels. Similar to drybrushing, you want to remove almost all the paint from the sponge before dabbing on the mini.

The scratches and chipping is done by painting an area with Rhinox Hide and then painting Ironbreaker on top. Be sure to leave Rhinox showing around the silver to give the impression of worn paint.

You can add as much or little damage as you like.

How to paint Imperial Fists Armour – Complete

Thank You

I hope you find this guide useful.

If you do have any questions or suggestions on how to improve it for others, then please do let me know.

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